


Ariose

by SnowyDawn17



Series: Oratorio [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: ???!momota, Alternate Universe - Talentswap (Dangan Ronpa), it's spelled Ouma fight me localization, pianist!ouma, very start-of-relationship so only using the & tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 13:51:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14166285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyDawn17/pseuds/SnowyDawn17
Summary: Kaito sat up with a frustrated groan and ran a hand through his hair. He needed something distracting. Something that would let him tune out for a little bit, something else to focus on…Music.Music would be pretty good right about now....The Ultimate Pianist’s Lab was open, wasn’t it?





	Ariose

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks Sen for being my beta reader <3

Kaito cracked open his door and let the light spill into the central dorm area, holding his breath. He stood completely still, waiting to see if anyone would call out. After a few seconds of silence, however, he visibly relaxed. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, per se, but he really wasn’t in the mood for conversation right now. Just a quarter of what had happened today was enough to stress him out. All of it - kidnapping, memory loss, a killing game?! - added together? Yeah, no wonder he couldn’t fall asleep. Kaito could handle it, though. He wouldn’t be able to call himself a hero if he couldn’t! (Luminary of what, exactly?)

Still, even heroes needed to take breaks every now and then. If only he could shut his damn brain off and burn off all this excess energy… maybe a workout would help? Going outside at the very least for some fresh air… yeah, that was exactly what he needed.

Kaito shut his door behind him and crept down the stairs, careful to keep his steps quiet. No light shone from anyone of the other doors, but there was no way to tell if anyone else was still up. Hell, for all he knew each room was completely soundproof. They should test that later. But for now…

He felt a wave of calm wash over him with the gentle breeze as he opened the dormitory door, the scent of grass and trees and life flooding his senses. Standing in the doorway he closed his eyes, breathing it in. There was nothing Kaito loved more than this; an open, cloudless sky, rolling hills dotted with patches of trees, the vastness of the world spread out before you…

And then he opened his eyes, and though he could see the stars, all he could focus on was the wide bars of the cage that kept them here. Kaito turned away and his feet led him to the grassy area besides the pavilion. Far enough away from the dorms that anyone who happened to leave probably wouldn’t notice him, and far enough away from the exisals that he didn’t have to worry too much. The Monokubs had said they were on autopilot or something, still fixing up the school, but he still wanted as much distance as possible between him and them.

His intention had been to work out -- some sit-ups, maybe, or possibly push-ups -- but when Kaito reached the pavilion he found himself laying on his back to once again look at the stars. He wanted to look past the cage. Just… just for an hour, at most, he wanted to think about something else. No bullshit amnesia, no second Monopad, no exit tunnel, no killing game, just for an hour. Let it be him and nature and the stars.

 

Except… the stars were wrong.

 

Kaito’s brow furrowed and his eyes darted from star to star, thinking. His memories were a bit spotty, true, but he’d been pretty much anywhere you could think of. And he didn’t remember ever seeing a sky like this. There wasn’t a single constellation he recognized.

A faint sense of unease started churning in his gut. He… he couldn’t be wrong. But it was impossible that he didn’t recognize a single star in the entire sky. It wasn’t possible. ...was it?

Kaito was suddenly acutely aware of how silent it was. Of course, there were no animals - not even insects, according to Yumeno. That… that was weird too, right? Not a single bug in an overgrown, abandoned school was as weird as the stars being wrong, right?

Being outside was no longer calming. If anything he was even more anxious now, his head buzzing with another problem to solve, another concern to add to the ever-growing pile. Kaito sat up with a frustrated groan and ran a hand through his hair. He needed something distracting. Something that would let him tune out for a little bit, something else to focus on…

 

Music.

 

Music would be pretty good right about now.

 

...The Ultimate Pianists Lab was open, wasn’t it?

 

Kaito has no idea how to play a piano, but there would probably be something to play recordings on, right? Musicians played along to recordings all the time. He wasn’t sure if anyone had investigated Ouma’s Lab yet -- all things considered, it had been pretty low priority, and they had spent all their time today throwing themselves at that damn tunnel anyways.  
It only took a minute or two to push himself up, walk into the school building, and reach the door to the Pianist’s Lab. He bit his lip. Ouma wouldn’t mind.

Probably.

…Kaito had only known the brat for a day, and he already knew that was a lie. If Ouma found him, he’d throw a fit. But Ouma was never going to know he had been here, so it was fine. He wasn’t planning on staying long, and he wasn’t going to mess up the room. It would be fine.

He opened the door, and several things happened at once.

Light spilled out into the hallway, along with the sound of music: someone was already here.

Kaito stepped into the room and looked up, making eye contact with the Ultimate Pianist Ouma Kokichi himself.

There was a loud shriek and a flurry of papers going everywhere and two dull thud! noises and Kaito was on the ground, still in the doorway, staring at the ceiling and surrounded by scattered sheet music.

“Why the hell are you here?!”

Kaito groaned and pushed himself up, hoping that the fall wouldn’t leave a bump. He raised his head to (begrudgingly) respond to Ouma but the words died in his throat when he saw that the pianist was talking to him from behind the piano bench. “Did… did you fall-”

“Hey, no! No! I made a tactical retreat when an unknown assailant crashed into my lab! Meanie!” Ouma pouted. “I asked first, anyways!” Before Kaito could think of where to even start replying to that mess (It was fuck o’clock in the morning at this point, he did not have the brainpower to deal with this conversation), Ouma gasped dramatically. “Could it be that I was right?! Has Momota-chan come to murder me in my own Lab?!”

“N-no, dammit! I didn’t even know you were in here! What gave you that idea in the first place!?” Kaito raised a fist determinedly, though he probably didn’t look as confident as he wanted considering he was still sprawled on the floor.

“Aha! A stutter! So it’s true!” Ouma pointed at him with a sharp jab and stood up, partially leaning over the piano.

“You’re the one who threw something at me!” Kaito picked himself up off the floor and took a few steps forward, trying not to slide on the scattered papers littered around him.

Ouma had crawled on top of the piano now, laying down on his stomach and resting his head in his hands. “Only paper, silly Momota-chan! I couldn’t kill you with sheet music unless I tried really, reeeaaaallllly hard! Or got lucky, but I doubt aaanyone has that much luck.”

Kaito grit his teeth. “Dammit, just- just stop talking about murder already, alright?! This isn’t - It’s not a game!”

Ouma tilted his head to the side. “But Monokuma said-”

“I don’t give a damn about that dumbass bear!” Kaito said, running a hand through his hair and letting out a heavy sigh. “Listen, I- I only came here to listen to some music and get my mind off things, but you’re obviously busy, so I’ll just-”

Ouma seemed to perk up as he spoke, his eyes shining. “Oh, Momota-chan came to listen to my music?”

Kaito blinked, uncertain of where Ouma was taking this. “Uh, yeah, that’s what I said.”

Ouma hummed and pushed himself up, turning and slipping off the piano and taking a seat on the bench in one smooth motion. He leaned to the side and met Kaito’s gaze. “Well?”

(Wow, his eyes are really pretty… dammit Kaito, focus on the conversation!) “...Huh?” (Great job. Truly fantastic. A+)

Ouma rolled his eyes. “I’m offering to play for you, dumbass. Have anything in mind?”

Ah, shit. “I uh- no, actually.” He rubbed the back of his head and looked off to the side. “I’d been planning to look around and, I dunno, try to find something. Didn’t really put much thought into it. Didn’t expect to run into you, either.”

“...Oh. ...Well, it IS my Lab, you know.” Ouma smiled wryly, then laughed. “Boy, I hope Momota-chan wasn’t thinking about touching my piano, nishishi! Hate to see you break the one fun thing in this place.” He had been running a hand softly over the keys but froze, his expression going perfectly blank for a second before he was grinning again. “But that’s a lie! There’s plenty of fun here, especially with the Killing Game-!”

“I thought I told you to knock that off,” Kaito frowned, crossing his arms. Ouma had seemed… almost disappointed, that he didn’t have a song request. Then he had gone back to his usual bullshit... “And I wasn’t gonna touch the piano, honest! I know not to mess with shit I don’t get.”

“Wow, and I thought I was the liar here!” Ouma giggled.

“...What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever you want it to mean, Momota-chan. I’m just calling it like I see it.” Ouma wasn’t even paying attention to him now, his eyes focused as he started poking at the piano keys in front of him. Single notes floated through the room, short and disconnected with long pauses in between: it couldn’t be called a song by any stretch of the word. “You seem to be juuuust the right mix of reckless dumbass and good intentions to go barrelling into everything and anything you don’t understand, that’s all.”  
Kaito’s hands clenched into fists as he pulled himself up to his full height, anger blazing through his veins. “I am not a dumbass-!”

Ouma raised an eyebrow. “That’s the part you focus on?” He grit his teeth and raised a fist (Just shut UP and let him TALK, dammit!) when Ouma’s expression wiped itself clean, dead but sharp (or deadly sharp?) eyes cutting clean through to his soul. “It’s the hot-headed ones like you that die first, y’know.”

Kaito stuttered to a halt, his arm freezing mid-swing as Ouma’s words shot through him like a bullet. For a brief moment, the world froze.

“But woooow, Momota-chan really puffed up like a bird, didn’t he!” Ouma grinned cheekily, absolutely shattering the tension he had caused. “I bet your hair would’ve fluffed up too, if it wasn’t absolutely drenched in icky gel, nishishi!” Kaito squawked.

“I don’t use that much! Hey! I don’t!” Despite his best efforts Ouma continued to ignore anything and everything he said to defend himself, laughing all the while.

After ten or fifteen minutes of trying to defend his hair, Kaito realizes three things: He’s out of breath, out of arguments, and about to pass out. He has no idea how long ago the night time announcement was, but it’s definitely been several hours since he wanted to be asleep. This time he really might pass out the second his head hits the pillow.

“Huuuh? Where’re you going, Momota-chan?” Ouma titled his head and poked his cheek, speaking before Kaito could open his mouth to say goodbye.

“Uh, back to my dorm? I’m tired as hell and I’d rather not deal with our classmates on no sleep.” He wanted to befriend and escape with everyone as much as Akamatsu, but he had to admit some of their personalities were a bit… much, sometimes. Case in point: Ouma.

“Whaaaat? After all this, you’re not gonna stay for one measly song?” He must’ve made a face, because Ouma giggled again. “Just cuz you don’t have a request doesn't mean I can't play for you, dummy! C’mon, c’mon!” He waved Kaito over and patted the spot next to him on the piano bench.

There's nowhere else to sit, and Ouma was too impatient to let him find a chair, so Kaito ends up sitting precariously on the edge of the bench. Ouma, of course, sat in the middle and refused to budge. Kaito would’ve made a joke about how he was too short to reach the keys (seriously, have you seen him? He’s almost a foot shorter than Kaito!) but the suddenly serious look on Ouma’s face stopped him. The pianist took a deep breath, placed his hands over the keys, and began to play.

Momota isn’t sure what he was expecting, but the soothing melody coaxed out of the large instrument caught him by surprise. Ouma was so loud and chaotic all the time. It was jarring to see him so... peaceful.

 

He really is… kinda pure, isn’t he?

 

Ouma continued to focus on whatever song he was playing, oblivious to Kaito’s thoughts. Kaito, too, found his awareness of his own thoughts starting to fade as sleep began to creep over him with the subtlety of a tidal wave. He had to lean closer to Ouma to keep himself from falling off the bench. He didn’t want to shove himself into Ouma’s personal space, but it was better than the alternative of crashing to the floor and snapping awake.

The piano bench was actually… pretty comfortable, if he thought about it…

Kaito tried to suppress a yawn and blinked rapidly, trying to force himself to stay awake. He didn’t want to fall asleep in the middle of Ouma’s Talent Lab, much less in the middle of his performance, but…

It was so hard to

                                              stay

                                                                          awake

                                   ……

 

                                                    …….

“... Momota-chAAAH-!” Kokichi was almost knocked off the piano bench as Momota fell and crashed into him; the song he had been winging clearly more effective than he had anticipated. For a moment he considered pushing Momota off the bench -- serves him right, dozing off in the middle of a solo performance from the Ultimate Pianist himself! -- but… he didn’t. Carefully (awkwardly) he slipped out from under the other boy and gently laid him down along the piano bench.

Momota snored quietly.

Kokichi snorted and shook his head. “Jeez, Momota-chan… causing me no end of problems, huh?” Interrupting his night time investigation -- thankfully Momota had found him in his own lab, and not in one of the other rooms -- and falling asleep on him, too! (And Momota was heavy!) He bit his lip, crossing his arms as his foot tapped impatiently on the floor.

Momota was too heavy to carry back to the dorms alone, and he didn’t want to deal with the drama that waking someone else up would entail. What to do, what to do…

“Hope your coat works just as well as a blanket, Momota-chan.”

 

 

The next morning everyone gathered in the dining hall. It would most likely become the usual gathering spot if they stayed here much longer, and while Kokichi wanted to be a bit optimistic about their situation he couldn’t deny reality. Their odds of escape were… pretty slim, and that was assuming the exit tunnel genuinely was an exit.

Momota walked in ten minutes after Kokichi himself, clothes a bit wrinkled and his hair hanging down around his face. It had been that way last night, too -- apparently Momota hadn’t had time to run back to his assigned room.

The others briefly commented on the change of hairstyle, and when Akamatsu-san told him (jokingly) that maybe he should ease up on the hair gel more often Kokichi hid his smirk behind his teacup as Momota sputtered.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna physically fight every nasty fic for this ship <3
> 
>  
> 
> In case anyone's curious!  
> Mentioned character swaps:
> 
> Supreme Leader Akamatsu  
> Entomologist Yumeno
> 
> I might write more for this swap, depends on if I get ideas lmao. Definitely not writing a full-on talentswap fic though.


End file.
